PROF. IORDANKA KOUZMANOVA, DSCPresident of Bulgarian Rectors’ Conference

Ani Georgieva

Contents:

1. Review of the European eductional systems

2. Bologna Process Midway to 2010

Consequences for National Legislation

3. The Bologna Reforms after Bergen: the

Challenges of Implementation and the

Role of Universities

4. Conclusions

“Universities’ independence and autonomy ensure that higher education and research system continuously adapt to changing needs, society’s demands and advances in scientific knowledge.”

That principle statement in the Bologna declaration outlines the total aspiration of the European countries to harmonization of the higher education systems.

The number of higher education institutions, including of the private ones, is constantly increasing. As a general rule the private universities cover only a restricted area of courses compared to the state universities;

A serious increase in the number of students has also been registered. There is also a change in the student structure by areas – the greatest increase rate has been reported for the students in computer science and information technologies;

There is a serious increase in the number of people employed in the area of education (the rate in the different countries varies within 3 – 8 % and in Bulgaria it is 7,8 %;

Common tendencies:

There is discrepancy between the increasing number of students and the reasonable number of students per person engaged in research, keeping in mind the world experience confirming that better quality is achieved when there is a smaller ratio between the number of students to the number of teachers (35 : 1 in Denmark, 28 : 1 in France, 11 : 1 in Bulgaria);

There is a tendency towards increasing the expenditures in education but the picture of financing the education is quite varied between the countries;

The tendency that is being established definitely is the closer cooperation between education and business.

The degree structure of Bulgarian higher education was

introduced by virtue of the Higher Education Act of 1995.

That Act set the beginning of the organized reform in

Bulgarian higher education by all the components of the

system, the most important of them being structuring the

education in degrees, thus replacing the former existing

one-level system. As a result of that, in 1999 when signing

the Bologna Declaration, Bulgaria was fully ready for the

changes included in the common European reform.

I. Bologna Reforms Midway to 2010. Consequences for National Legislation

I. Bologna Reforms Midway to 2010. Consequences for National Legislation

First degree – “Bachelor’s” – provides broad background preparation by four-year training.

Second degree – “Master’s” – provides further specialization of education by at least one-year training after the “Bachelor’s degree”.

Third degree – “Doctoral” /PhD/ – an educational-and-scientific degree acquiring at least three-year studies after the “Master’s” degree.

The Higher Education Act of 1995 set the following educational structure:

In relation to the need of introducing “easily readable and comparable degrees”, in 2004 the Higher Education Act of Bulgaria was amended, introducing the European Diploma Supplement as the major document issued by the higher education institutions.

The amendments in the Higher Education Act, Regulation No. 21 was adopted on 12 October 2004 by the Ministry of Education and Science, guaranteeing an unified approach for applying the credit system and the compatibility of the national systems to the European Credit Transfer System /ECTS/.

Students and university teachers started their participation in the mobility schemes of Socrates/Erasmus programme. Until now 3280 students in Bulgarian higher education institutions and 1248 teachers have been awarded mobility grants.

In 2005 the Socrates National Agency designed a web-site about the Bologna process in Bulgaria:

http://bologna.hrdc.bg/ containing information about the major documents, activities, workshops, contact details and links.

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PROGRAMME SOCRATES ERASMUS NATIONAL PROGRAMME SOCRATES ERASMUS NATIONAL OUTGOING STUDENT MOBILITY BY YEARSOUTGOING STUDENT MOBILITY BY YEARS

Outgoing students: Highest and lowest growth 2003/04

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LI MT IS LV SI BG CZ LT PT FI PL LU NO BE NL SE EE UK DK CY

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PROGRAMME SOCRATES ERASMUSPROGRAMME SOCRATES ERASMUSNational outgoing student mobility rate per countriesNational outgoing student mobility rate per countries

The red line indicates average student mobility for Europe

The procedures about the recognition of awards and

qualifications are carried out by the Commission

within the Ministry of Education and Science,

structured by virtue of the Higher Education Act.

Those procedures are in full compliance with the

principleas of the Lisbon Convention ratified with an

Act passed by the National Assembly of Bulgaria in

2000.

Quality assurance of higher education complies with

the principles set by the Bologna declaration and it is

provided by the National Agency of Evaluation and

Accreditation – an independent body of external quality

assurance established by virtue of the Higher Education

Act of 1995 – as well as by internal university systems of

quality assurance, developed in accordance with the

amendments of the Higher Education Act of 1999 and

2004.

Legislative basis of the Bologna reforms was

the first stage in the establishment of the

European Higher Education Area /EHEA/.

All the documents of the Ministerial meeting in Bergen

underlined repeatedly that 2005 was the midway to

2010, the period marked by issues set to the

governments for including the Bologna process in the

national policy reflected in legislation and in the

structure of the higher education systems.

II. The Bologna Reforms after Bergen: the Challenges of Implementation and the Role of Universities

II. The Bologna Reforms after Bergen: the Challenges of Implementation and the Role of Universities

Higher Education Degrees

The Bulgarian higher education framework of degrees functions in compliance with the motifs of degree structure of education in all the countries.

Under the conditions of necessary and inevitable

competition, the universities transformed the “Bachelor’s”

degree into a study period providing broad background

preparation, while the “Master’s degree is a real

manifestation of the institutional differentiation and

qualification diversity. After the completion of one Bachelor’s

degree, the universities offer 8 – 10 different MSc courses.

The choice of the Master’s degree is based on quality of

the education offered, practical application of the

knowledge acquired and the competitiveness of the

graduates on the labour market.

The greatest challenge now faced by both the universities and governments is the development of the national qualification frameworks compatible with the European overarching framework of qualifications.

The adoption of the European overarching framework of

qualifications as a principal approach for improving the

imperfectness in the national systems, for creating unified

political vision about the essence and aims of higher

education qualifications, about the links among the

qualification levels, as well as for defining the exact place of

the intermediate qualifications.

We fully realize the clear qualitative and quantitative

dimension of the suggested in Bergen qualification

framework as an opportunity of expressing the national

qualifications and easier recognition of qualifications

acquired in foreign universities.

The outcomes-based framework for qualifications and the

introduction of credits for describing the study workload

and the results achieved is an excellent practical

instrument which will significantly improve the quality of

higher education.

Synchronizing the student workload in individual and distant learning forms of study, gaining experience from a number of European countries;

Credit allocation to modules in a flexible way enabling the student to choose the modules and the period of enrolling a certain module without breaking the academic rules and without hampering the educational process.

The challenges we are facing now are:

From the point of view of legislation student and

teachers’ mobility is fully provided. The autonomy of the

higher education institutions guarantees them the right to

sign agreements with different universities in the frames

of Socrates/Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci programmes.

Universities also send students to foreign universities by

virtue of intergovernmental agreements, after a

competition organized by the Ministry of Education and

Science.

Mobility

One possibility would be to develop better structured international cooperation through bilateral or multilateral agreements.One fundamental point is to simplify legal and administrative procedures for academic recognition. The coherent frame work of qualifications and compatible quality assurance systems will contribute to this.

All forms of mobility should be explicitly valued as a factor enriching studies at all levels.

Quality Assurance in Higher Education was

placed in the Bergen Stocktaking Report in the sector needing further efforts in the period 2005-2010. Quality assurance in Bulgarian higher education is legislatively provided and meets all the requirements set by the Bologna process.

External quality assurance is realized by the National Agency of Evaluation and Accreditation as an independent and trustworthy institution.

Summary of Average Scores for the Three Priority Action Lines

(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

Bulgaria

It is worth listing the major elements of the quality assurance process, which will be focused on in the recent future:

Improving the system of teacher’s evaluation;Student involvement in the process of self-evaluation;Availability of the results to public;Applying outcomes-based approach in quality

assessment procedures;Fixing the financial stimuli for the teachers to the results

they had achieved in training and research;Harmonization of the indicators for measuring the quality

with the systems of the European universities.

Partnerships with the business

Bulgarian universities wound be able to respond better and faster to the market demands and to develop partnerships with the business community, recognizing that their relationship with them is of strategic importance and form a part of their commitment to serving the public interest.

That is why 22 Bulgarian Universities have built Carrier Centers to improve these links.

Career Development Center is the instrument bridging the gap between the business, academic circles and the product they offer, i.e. the university degree specialist.

What is the Role of the Career Development Center:

For the University:

building database with the aim of supporting the realization of the graduates

on the labour market;receiving feedback from stakeholders about quality of education;supporting future career development of

the graduates;

For the students: preparing their professional realization; offering internship placement; career orientation;

For the employers:finding applicants for internships or a job;presenting the company before the potential

future staff;announcing their needs for the required

knowledge and skills.

The future of the Career Development Center:

Strengthening the position of the career counsellor as a mediator between the needs of industry and the education;

Valorization of internships as a compulsory part of curriculum for which students are awarded academic credits;

Flexibility on behalf of the universities and employers in organizing internships.

Provide the right mix of competencies

Development of enterpreneurial, management and innovation skills should become an integral part of education, research, training and lifelong learning strategies. 10 Bulgarian universities are now becoming entrepreneurially oriented building Enterpreneural Centres.

Lifelong learning presents a new challenge requiring from universities to be more open to providing courses for students at later stages in their life cycle.

Some Bulgarian universities have established Centres for Continuing Education.

As a conclusion it can be summarized that Bulgarian

universities are fully aware of the priorities and aims of the

Bologna process. In the frames of their unifying organization

– the Bulgarian Rectors’ Conference, they definitely state

their readiness to work in cooperation with the governmental

institutions in the country, with the European higher

education institution, with ЕUA /European University

Association/, ESIB /National Unions of Students in Europe/,

ENQA /European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher

Education/, EURASHE /European Association of Institutions

of Higher Education/, UNESCO-CEPES, etc. for the

successful realization of the Bologna reform and the

establishment of the European higher education area.

Universities are key players in Bulgarian’s future and

for the successful transition to a knowledge-based

economy and society.

Thank you for the attention!